New member of the family - a question about hormones

Hi all,

My wife and I recently adopted a male eclectus (about 8 mths old) named Gizmo. We have had him about 4 weeks. I have been off work so have been the main carer. We intended to give him his space initially, and keep him in the cage for some time, until he felt comfortable with his surroundings, but he was keen to come out of the cage and interacting with us, so at the moment he comes out morning and evening, and a period during the day.

Things were going fine, until he started regurgitating on my arm and showing signs that he liked me a lot. Unfortunately the next evening when my wife and I were interacting with him, he growled at her and bit her (but not hard on the hand). I did a lot of reading that day, and decided my wife needed time with him without me around, and she has been going through a process of getting him to step up and reward and general play with me out in the workshop. This seems to have worked so far and she has had no repeat of any aggressive behaviour.

Yesterday we tried having a short play session with me and her in the same room, and things seemed to go well. The only confusing situation was when he was on my wife's arm, he suddenly started to make a sound like he was mimicking us clicking our tongue on the roof of our mouth (which he does), but this was a more confident and natural sound (didn't sound like he was mimicking a sound, more like a natural sound they make).

We both watched for body language, but he did not appear aggressive and we carried on. Within the play time (flying from my arm to my wifes arm for treats), he made this noise three times and the last time he regurgitated on my wife's arm.

Is this a natural sound, and if so what is he trying to tell her? My initial thoughts were to mimic back, but didn't want to reinforce it, unless it is a positive signal. Today he made the same sound again with me (again he seemed to have good body language, and we continued on).

As we are new parrot owners, and Gizmo is clearly going through hormonal changes, what advice can you guys give, as far as what to do and not to do, so we don't make his hormones any higher? I seem to be finding a lot about female eclectus parrots regarding hormones, but little about what to do with male eclectus parrots.

As an example, I had a great moment about a week in, were I was sitting with him, and he decided to climb onto my chest and snuggle into my chin. I decided to try gently touching his feathers (as I want him to be used to us touching his feathers, should we or a vet need to in the future), he snuggled in closer, and became more and more relaxed, as it gradually turned into a soft pat from head to the end of his wings. I thought it was a great bonding experience, but I am concerned to try it again with his hormones kicking in.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,

Camo

Hi all,

Had some issues with my post not showing up, so it has actually been a few days since my initial post, even though it is only just recently visible (Allee has been fantastic, helping resolve the problem, thanks again Allee).

So we had a setback, Gizmo once again growled at my wife (Tracey) and had a few goes at her ear (fortunately they were not hard nips and no broken skin), but Tracey is definitely upset from the experience. She tried to stay composed and said "No" in a stern, but not loud voice, and put him back on his cage. This is what we have read you should do, but it would be great if someone could tell us if we are attacking this issue correctly, the only thing she didn't do was look at Gizmo with a frown (the other suggestion we have read), but clearly in this situation, the last thing she was going to do was turn her face towards Gizmo.

The thing is, things seemed to be going so well, we have been teaching him to "come" and he has enjoyed flying from one end of our large room to the other, to land on each of our arms and be rewarded with a pea. He really seems to be connecting with Tracey, but there is something that sets him off unexpectantly.

I am thinking perhaps Tracey needed more time alone with Gizmo and I came back into the group a bit too soon? My plan moving forward is to have me bring Gizmo out morning and midday, but Tracey to spend time alone with him at night, try this for a few weeks and then perhaps I join them every other night for a few more weeks. Does that sound like a good idea?

Any help we can get would be greatly appreciated! Gizmo really is a lovely bird, and he usually interacts very well with Tracey and I, so we know this is something that can be overcome, but we are new to this and worried that we are not handling this situation correctly. His previous owners have moved overseas (they were great carers, but could not take him), and we do not have access to the breeder, so we are feeling a bit isolated.

Cheers,

Cameron

Hello Cameron, so happy to see your second post.

Congratulations on your new family member, Gizmo. It sounds like you and your wife are off to a great start with training. I think it's normal to be nervous in your situation. Everything is scary at first. As you continue to read and learn you will feel more confident in your decisions. There are many methods of training, many diets, many cage set ups, you will find what works best for you and Gizmo. From your description of your training sessions, you have already made progress.

I may be wrong about this, but I believe eclectus parrots reach sexual maturity at about three years, if that is the case, Gizmo is still too young for extreme hormonal behavior. Regurgitating can be a courtship behavior, as I'm sure you've read, but that's different than throwing up, which can be a sign of a crop infection. I'm not trying to scare you, but it might be a good idea to have a vet check to rule out a medical cause. If it is courtship behavior in Gizmo's case, there are things you can do to minimize this behavior. I would stick to head scratches, rubbing a parrot down his back can send the wrong signals, the same with too much cuddling. Making sure he is getting plenty of sleep is also helpful for any parrot, especially during hormone season. Provide a dark, quiet place for his cage and allow him to go to bed a bit earlier. Avoid feeding soft, warm foods that can stimulate nesting behaviors.

I hope that helps a little. Hopefully someone who has more experience with male eclectus parrots will come along and offer some helpful advice from first hand experience. Good luck, I'm looking forward to updates and I would love to see photos of Gizmo.

Hi Allee,

Thanks for your reply, he is scheduled for a vet visit, so I will bring it up, just in case.

This is Gizmo showing he doesn't need me to hold the straw filled with banana. He seems to enjoy holding his food in one leg, but he also seems to enjoy dropping it on the floor and watch me fetch it for him (who is training who...lol).



Cheers,

Camo

8 months is really too young for hormonal issues even with the smaller Solomon who develop faster they hit sexual maturity at as early as 18 months to two years with the larger subspecies being closer to 3 or 4 years.

To me the regurgitation is bonding (baby play) or illness as was mentioned. Regurgitation is stronger in some boys than others but I would keep an eye on this and distract him from doing it if you can. I would also encourage you to have the vet check for any crop infection as I have never had one start that so young.

I have heard the advice given before about with-holding soft warm foods during hormonal times but in my honest opinion have never seen or heard that it actually makes a difference so I think all it really does is deprive an eclectus of food they really enjoy. Mine get warmed food every morning for breakfast then more of a bigger cut chop of fruits and veggies later in the day, not warmed.

Eclectus are super food motivated so pay attention to what foods he really loves and use these during training. Most as they mature don't care to be heavily petted there are always exceptions but eclectus aren't typically cuddle birds. They do love to hang out with their people so having him around household activities is great.

I also feel that frequent baths are something that is very important with them, mine get a bath about 5 times per week.

Congrats on Gizmo I think eclectus are very special birds!